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His words hit me like a sledgehammer.
Hawk reaches for me as I feel my legs turn to jelly and I stumble. “Wow, easy there, Avery.” Hawk lifts me into his lap and runs a soothing hand down my back.
“Ev?” Ev gets down on his knees in front of me and tucks my hair behind my ear.
“What’s wrong, Avery?” He looks into my eyes. “You just thought of something, didn’t you?”
“Can you cross-reference my birth name against all of Fred Downey’s aliases?” I whisper, fighting to hold back my tears.
Hawk goes tense beneath me, and Creed groans. Ev gets up and grabs his laptop, bringing it over and sitting at my feet. Creed and Greg gather close, each of us waiting to see what Ev finds. I can feel myself shaking, so I’m thankful when Hawk’s arms tighten around me and he begins to rock me.
Suddenly, Ev curses and looks up at me.
“Just tell me,” I whisper, even though I can tell he would rather gouge his own eyes out.
“Harry Main. He was renting an apartment two blocks from your parents' house. He bagged groceries at—”
“I remember him now. He always smiled at me, but it was a little off. It made my skin crawl. He was there the day me and my mom had a fight in the parking lot. I wanted to go to a party. She wanted to have a family dinner, but I couldn’t sit at the same table as my father and pretend everything was alright. I planned to go anyway, but I was too upset, so I crashed at my friend’s house.”
“That the night your mom was attacked?” Greg asks quietly.
I nod, tears sliding down my face, and I wipe them away. “You’re right. They did know who I was. And I think Harry or Fred, or whoever he really is, was my Penn Travis. I’m not sure why he didn’t use the Penn alias like the others.”
“He obviously wasn’t good at following the rules. His job was to protect you, but…” Creed’s voice trails off as I look at him.
“He probably thought he was helping when he hurt my mom. But everything got worse.”
“So he came back to finish the job,” Ev says.
“And when he realized he fucked up, he ran, and you were moved into witness protection, which just worked in the Division’s favor because now they had unlimited access to you. They could mold and manipulate you until they had you where they wanted you. But where does Cooper come into all this?” Greg asks.
“I think…” I start, pausing to swallow. “I think he was Harry’s replacement. Cooper was my new Penn Travis.”
That revelation leaves everyone in stunned silence.
“He was the one who suggested getting married to stay in the country before I met Avery. Having her move here with us made it so much easier for him.” Creed rubs his hands over his face.
“And for a while, he did look out for me. He was like the dad I always wanted. I really thought he was a good guy until he turned me in.”
“But why then? What triggered him to do what he did?” Creed frowns.
I think it over and sigh. “I told him what I could do.”
“But he already knew.”
“But I didn’t know that. He probably thought if I was willing to expose myself to him, I’d be willing to do it with you, too, and he couldn’t have that.”
* * *
A cold glass touching my arm makes me jump. I open my eyes and watch as Ev sits down beside me and hands me the glass of iced tea.
“Thanks.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Tired, angry, sad, confused. The list is endless.”
“And all understandable.”
